Episode 7: The Warner Textile Archive - Forgotten Pieces of Britain’s Industrial and Creative Past

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Podcasts and Google Podcasts

Don't forget to subscribe for future episodes on the Louder Than Words Podcast using the buttons on the player above or catch-up with all episodes on our blog.

Listen to the latest episode of the Louder Than Words Podcast to discover the story of the Warner Textile Archive and how Essex historians are helping unlock the potential of the archive for designers and bringing it to life for the public.

Professor Jules Pretty from the University of Essex and journalist Martha Dixon speak to historians, archivists and designers who love using Warner textiles.

Warner and Sons once provided the luxury fabrics which decorated palaces and featured at royal weddings.

The Warner Textile Archive is now the largest publicly owned collection from a luxury textile manufacturer in the UK. The Archive is housed in the original Warner & Sons mill in Braintree that was refurbished in 2004 to hold the significant collection.

The collection comprises over 100,000 items, including designs on paper, hand woven textiles, printed textiles, business records, photographs and manufacturing equipment. At its height, Warner & Sons were producing fabric for royal weddings and funerals, and decorating palaces. The family business pioneered several textile manufacturing techniques that have never again been replicated.

Contributors:

• Dr Alix Green, from the Department of History at Essex, is overseeing a project to digitise the Warner Textile Archive.
• PhD student Samantha Woodward has helped the Warner Textile Archive to develop a framework for further research into core parts of the collection and looked at ways to engage with users in the future.
• Robert Rose is Museum Manager of the Warner Textile Archive.
• Sophie Jemma is Archivist at the Warner Textile Archive.
• Cassie Nicholas is an Interior Designer and Winner of the BBC Interior Design Masters programme who has used Warner Textiles.
• Adam Sykes, owner of heritage fabrics specialist Claremont which continues to use Warner Textile designs in its ranges.

The Louder Than Words Podcast - Series Two

Professor Jules Pretty and journalist Martha Dixon have created the Louder than Words podcast to encourage difficult discussions, to offer a platform to people making a difference and to explain how you can take action on issues you care about.

This is the first podcast from the Centre for Public and Policy Engagement and was developed with CommsConsult.

The Louder Than Words Podcast shows how research delivers solutions to global problems, how we can improve people’s lives and how we can inspire people to take action now. Each episode of Louder Than Words will look at a key global issue or research challenge and give you a chance to hear from leading researchers, policy makers, thinkers and campaigners plus those directly affected by the issue.

The first season looked at climate change, migration, mental health, inequality and nature as therapy. The second season will look at the Warner Textile Archive, telecommunications pioneer Marconi, disasters and how we prepare for them, our planet and crop production and surveillance technology. Join us and subscribe to upcoming podcasts.